Champions League last-16 ties to be redrawn after Man United ball error

Malik Ouzia @MalikOuzia_13 December 2021

The Champions League last-16 ties will be redrawn after an error involving Manchester United’s ball forced Uefa to declare the original draw void.

The error occurred when United were drawn against Spanish side Villarreal, who they had already faced in the group stage and, therefore, were not eligible to play in the first knockout round.

While that mistake was spotted at the time, it led to confusion which saw United’s ball incorrectly left out of the following draw, which could have seen them pitched against Atletico Madrid.

United were eventually reinstated and drawn against PSG, but all eight fixtures will be redrawn due to the considerable knock-on effect of United’s exclusion from the Atletico tie.

Atletico were among the clubs to seek clarification directly from Uefa after they were handed a daunting fixture against Bayern Munich.

A Uefa statement said: “Following a technical problem with the software of an external service provider that instructs the officials as to which teams are eligible to play each other, a material error occurred in the draw for the UEFA Champions League Round of 16.

“As a result of this, the draw has been declared void and will be entirely redone at 1500 CET.”

Void Champions League last-16 draw in full

  • Benfica vs Real Madrid 
  • Villarreal vs Man City 
  • Atletico Madrid vs Bayern Munich 
  • RB Salzburg vs Liverpool 
  • Inter Milan vs Ajax 
  • Sporting vs Juventus 
  • Chelsea vs Lille 
  • PSG vs Man United 

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